Stages
by BrilliantDarkness
Summary: This is the long awaited sequel to Never My Love. This will probably not make sense unless you read that one first. Reid and J.J. are featured but not actually interacting. Please review...I live for feedback.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, I have had several requests for a sequel to Never My Love and have determined that there are two parts to the story of Reid's recovery and return to action. Sadly for those waiting for the continuation, I wrote the second of those first and only recently cleared my head enough to write this one which is the one you need to read first for anything to make any sense at all. As always I welcome all reviews.

It is near dawn in the parking lot of a large office building. A woman who is obviously part of an overnight cleaning crew is walking to her car. She is no more than thirty years of age but those years have not been kind. She is exhausted from work and looks as if the weight of the world is heaped upon her shoulders. She nears her car, a rather non-descript but very old and beat up sedan. As she fishes in her purse for her keys, a dark shape walks quietly up behind her. The figure puts a hand over her mouth and a knife to her throat in the same motion. From behind a dark ski mask a man's voice speaks softly in her ear.

Man: Come quietly and I won't have to hurt you. Do you understand?

The woman allows a tiny whimper but nods her head. The man walks her to his vehicle, a dark colored van, where he puts her in flex cuffs before pushing her into the back. He then walks to the driver's side door and climbs in. He drives away leaving the parking lot vacant but for the woman's car.

* * *

At the BAU, the team, minus Reid is gathered at the round table. J.J. is showing pictures of women on the screen.

J.J.: Four women so far. One victim every two weeks or so. Each one suffocated with a pillow that was found under her head. The women were all found fully clothed under blankets.

Prentiss: Any sign of sexual assault?

J.J.: None.

Rossi: What about where they were found?

J.J.: Grassy areas of public parks.

Morgan: He's not trying to hide the bodies.

J.J.: He's actually taking care of them. Each of the victims had just gotten off of work when she went missing. The bodies were freshly bathed, their hair brushed and they were clothed in fresh nightgowns.

Morgan: Remorse?

Rossi: That would be my guess.

* * *

The team is on the plane.

J.J.'s voice: There is an old saying, "A man may work from sun 'til sun but woman's work is never done."

On the plane J.J. is just walking back to her seat and hanging up her cell phone at the same time.

Hotch: Everything okay?

J.J.: Yeah, Henry is teething right now. It's really hard on Will because Henry only wants me.

Hotch nods in understanding. They both turn to the laptop when they hear Garcia's voice.

Garcia: So, my friends, I've been trying to learn a little more about these women.

Morgan: What did you find out?

Garcia: Well, I know they say that every mother is a working mother but these ladies take the cake. They are all single parents; no dad in the picture at all. None was receiving child support of any kind. Each worked at least two jobs and just barely made ends meet.

Hotch: Any more direct connections? Work maybe?

Garcia: Nothing so far. Different jobs, kids in different schools.

Morgan: Keep digging.

Garcia: Aye, aye, captain!

Hotch: We're going to need to hit the ground running when we land.

Morgan: Agreed. Rossi and I will head to the sites where the women were found.

Hotch: Good. Prentiss, you and Re—Damn! I keep forgetting. Can you and J.J. go to speak with the victims' families? See if you can get a feel for some of the victimology here.

Prentiss: Sure. Speaking of Reid, has anyone talked to him?

Morgan: A couple of times. He's still got a lot to get through. He puts on a brave face but he's really hurting. I don't know when he'll be ready to come back.

This puts a more somber than usual mood over the passengers on the jet.

* * *

Looking at the exterior of Maggie's house in Williamsburg, VA. It is the middle of the night but there are one or two lights shining through windows.

Reid's voice: "Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it."-Tori Amos

Inside Maggie's house, Maggie is dressed in sleeping clothes. Her hair is partially obscuring her face and she looks to be frantically blocking the door with her body.

Reid: Maggie move! I need to leave!

Taking a closer look at Maggie, she has been crying. There is blood on her lip and one eye is swollen and starting to discolor.

Maggie: You are not leaving until you talk to me.

Reid: I have to go. I can't deal with this.

Maggie: Yes you can.

Reid: What makes you so sure of that?

Maggie: Because I did and I'm not any stronger than you are.

This stops Reid in his tracks. He immediately loses interest in leaving and most of the energy seems to leave his body.

Reid: Y-you never said anything.

Reid slumps to the floor in shock. It is only then that he notices Maggie's face.

Reid: Oh God, what did I do?

Maggie: You had a nightmare. I tried to wake you. You weren't even conscious.

Reid starts to lose himself in the dream again.

Reid: I was back at the cabin…

Maggie: Go on.

Reid shakes his head bringing himself back to the now.

Reid: I can't. You were raped?

Maggie: It was years ago. It took me quite a while to be okay again. I guess you call it PTSD. I just called it scared. I never reached out for help or confided in anyone. If I've got a regret, that's it.


	2. Chapter 2

Prentiss and J.J. walk down the dimly lit hallway of a run down apartment building. They stop at a door and Prentiss looks down at her folder.

Prentiss: This is Amber Gleeson's place. She's the most recent victim.

From inside they can hear children playing. J.J. knocks on the door and a young woman maybe twenty years-old answers the door. She is pretty but obviously hasn't slept and has been crying. She looks puzzled and apprehensive at the sight of the two nicely dressed women in front of her.

J.J.: Miss, I'm Jennifer Jareau and this is Emily Prentiss. We're with the FBI and we're investigating Amber's death. Are you family?

Shelly: I'm her sister, Shelly. I'm the only family she has…had. Besides the kids anyway.

Prentiss: May we talk to you? We just have a few questions.

Shelly: I don't know what I can tell you that I didn't already tell the police.

J.J.: I know we're asking a lot to intrude at a time like this but what might not seem very important to you could be a great help to us.

Shelly backs up opening the door wider and gestures with one hand for J.J. and Prentiss to enter.

J.J.: So these are Amber's children?

Shelly: Yeah, just these two. Lily over there is six and Zach is nineteen months.

At this little Zach toddles over to J.J. and puts his arms up for her to pick him up. J.J. is obviously affected by this but picks up the child anyway.

Shelly: Wow. You sure have the touch. He's usually really shy around people he doesn't know.

J.J.: I guess I must give off a mom vibe or something. I have a little boy myself.

Prentiss: So, Shelly, do Lily and Zach have the same father?

Shelly: No, just loser number one and loser number two. Might as well be the same for all the good they were. Lily's dad ran off as soon as Amber told him she was pregnant. Zach's dad was real mean and drunk most of the time. He hit Amber. She didn't want him around either of the kids so she told him he wouldn't have to pay child support if he just left them alone.

J.J.: Has either man ever tried to contact Amber? Maybe to try to see the children?

Shelly: Not that I know of. I'm pretty sure she'd have mentioned it if they did. It's just the four of us here and Amber worked too much to have much of a life away from here. If she needed to talk about anything, she only really had me.

J.J.: So it's just you and the children now?

Shelly: Just us. There's no one else to help out and I can't risk them being separated. Besides, other than Amber, no one could love those kids as much as I do. Nothing's more important than that.

* * *

At Maggie's home Reid is still sitting on the floor. He looks too emotionally raw to even think about moving.

Reid: I'm afraid all the time. It keeps replaying in my mind. I can't turn it off.

Maggie sits down on the floor next to Reid and puts her arm around him. He rests his head on her shoulder.

Reid: I should have fought harder. I could have stalled more. I didn't have to let it happen.

Maggie: You saved your life. That's a pretty good outcome in my book.

Maggie lifts Reid's chin and he still averts his eyes from her.

Maggie: Spencer, look at me. You'll have to eventually because I'm not going anywhere.

Reid reluctantly locks eyes with Maggie and tears begin to well.

Maggie: There's no shame here. Not for you. You're not the one who did anything wrong. He did. Don't let this define you. It's part of you but it's not who you are.

Reid: I feel like I'll never get over this.

Maggie: It's not a cold, Spencer. You won't get over it. But you will move past it. It will always hurt a little to think about it but you will get to a point where you think of it less and less and it will hold less power over you.

* * *

Reassembling at the station, the agents begin comparing notes.

Hotch: I talked to the M.E. who just confirmed what we already knew. The women were suffocated. There was no indication they'd been drugged or sexually assaulted in any way.

Morgan: Nothing at the dump sites either. The unsub chose pretty places which seems to confirm our theory that he's remorseful.

Prentiss: J.J. and I spoke to the families of every victim. Similar stories each time. The fathers of the children at best just left and at worst were violent or drunk or both. One is even in prison for assault.

Rossi: There have been no fingerprints found and what little DNA there has been isn't in any system.

Hotch: So our unsub hasn't been convicted of anything in the past.

* * *

Reid and Maggie are still sitting on the floor.

Reid brushes the hair from Maggie's face and winces as he gently touches her blackened eye.

Maggie: What was the nightmare?

Reid: I was in the cabin tied to the bed and he was cutting me but still talking in that sugary voice and his hands were all over me…that's when you woke me up.

Maggie: Oh, Sweetie, you must have felt so trapped.

Reid: Maggie…I wasn't tied up when he raped me. I just laid there and pretended to be somewhere else and waited for it to be over. What does that make me?

Maggie: A survivor. I wasn't tied up either.


	3. Chapter 3

J.J. is standing outside the police station lost in thought. Hotch approaches.

Hotch: You alright?

J.J.: Yeah.

Hotch: I'm sorry I sent you to meet with the families. I just couldn't face those children grieving their mothers. It was too close to home, I guess. But it couldn't have been much easier for you. I'm sorry. I should have gone.

J.J.: Dealing with families is what I do. I've seen my share of grieving children. It's never an easy thing but I know I am helping in some way.

Hotch: So what's bothering you?

J.J.: I've been through enough of these cases over the years that I know the motives behind the crimes almost as well as you do.

Hotch: You think we're missing something. J.J., you need to come out and tell us when you see things that we might miss. You are as valuable a member of this team as anyone. Come back inside and work with us.

* * *

Maggie and Reid have still not moved from their spot on the floor. They are facing each other and Maggie has Reid's hands in hers.

Maggie: I don't know if it will help you to hear this or not but it might.

Maggie sighs. It is not the first time that she has told this story but it is certainly under the most emotional of conditions.

Maggie: I was eighteen. I had just started college. I had never really dated that much…okay, not at all. This guy I thought was attractive asked me out. When the date was over, he walked me back to my dorm room. I thought he was being such a gentleman. He asked if he could come in and I said yes but I left the door open. I don't know what good I thought that was going to do. Nearly every girl in the dorm, including my roommate was home for the weekend. We sat and talked for a little while and then I got cold so I got up to close the window. While my back was turned, he closed the door. At first we just kissed and that was nice and kind of exciting but then he started undressing me. I told him to stop. I said no. But he was much stronger and I realized fairly quickly that he wasn't going to stop. I just laid there and waited for it to be over. If you want me to list everything I could, and should, have done differently, I have gone over and over it. Eventually I came to understand that my greatest sin was my innocence which isn't a sin at all. He was in the wrong no matter how stupid I was.

Reid: Was he punished?

Maggie: No, I never told anyone at the time. I kept it to myself. He even had the nerve to ask me out again. I tell the story now to all of the incoming freshmen, boys and girls.

Reid: Why didn't you report it?

Maggie: I was ashamed.

Reid: But it wasn't your fault.

At this Maggie raises an eyebrow and gives Reid a sort of ironic smile.

* * *

Hotch and J.J. walk back into the station. Hotch leans and whispers something to Morgan.

Morgan: Hey guys, J.J. has some perspective to offer.

J.J.: You all keep saying that the unsub is remorseful. Don't we usually see that kind of behavior in the more brutal crimes? Or in crimes that are a compulsion? There's really no brutality here. And so often I hear you speak of femininity being a threat to an unsub. He seems to be trying to restore their femininity. He puts them in new, clean nightgowns and brushes their hair out.

Prentiss seems to see where J.J. is going and jumps in.

Prentiss: These women would have had their hair pulled back at work but every woman was found with her hair lying around her head like a halo almost. In literature, flowing hair is often used as a symbol for freedom and the way they were placed. As if they were being tucked into bed.

Morgan: The hectic lives these women led, I wonder when their last good night of sleep was.

Rossi: I think we have a profile now…thanks to J.J.

* * *

Reid and Maggie have moved to the sofa. She has her arms wrapped around him and he is leaning against her with his head tucked under her chin. They have both been crying. Reid's sobs are slowing and Maggie kisses the top of his head.

Maggie: Feel a little better now that you have that out for a bit?

Reid nods and takes a deep breath before speaking.

Reid: I think so. This isn't over yet is it?

Maggie: No, Honey, it's not. Not by a long shot. But you're getting there.

Reid: It's not fair that you went through this alone. I don't think I could have done this without you. Thank you for making me stay.

Maggie: I couldn't let you go. I love you and I know what it is to do this alone. You could have done it. Make no mistake. I chose to do it alone. Not a good choice but mine still. It is better this way.


	4. Chapter 4

Just a note from me again. I hope this is helping everyone get over what happened to poor Spencer in the last story. I still feel bad about that but honestly, I start with the crime and have little control over where the story goes from there. Please let me know what you think.

* * *

The agents are in front of assembled local law enforcement to give a profile.

Morgan: Our unsub is what's known as an "Angel of Death." He sees these deaths as mercy killings.

Rossi: The women he targets are single mothers doing everything on their own. They are all holding down at least two jobs to support their children.

Prentiss: It looks as though he is putting them to bed so that they can rest. This person no doubt has a job that requires compassion. A therapist or medical professional perhaps.

Hotch: It is likely that he sees these women as a close family member. It might be his mother or even a sister or aunt. Whoever it is had or has a circumstance similar to the murder victims.

J.J.'s phone rings and she walks away to answer, returning quickly and interrupting the profile briefing.

J.J.: It's Garcia.

Morgan: Put her on speaker.

Garcia: A little more digging and I think I found the connection. One that I probably should have found earlier. My apologies for overlooking the fairly obvious. All of the murder victims were on some form of public assistance; food stamps, Medicaid, that sort of thing.

Prentiss: A caseworker would fit our profile for profession.

Hotch: Keep working on getting the records on each woman. See who might have had access to every file. Let us know when you have something.

Garcia: You got it.

* * *

Maggie and Reid are still cuddled up together on the sofa.

Reid: I'm never going to hear the end of this from Morgan.

Maggie: Do you remember the flight home?

Reid: Not really, why?

Maggie: Derek Morgan sat with you the whole way reading to you. I think all he could find was some Physics text. But he wanted you to know you weren't alone. It was Morgan who told me what happened. I'll never, as long as I live, forget the wounded look in his eyes. The guilt. He won't be teasing you at all over this.

Reid: Guilt? Why does Morgan feel guilt?

.

Maggie: You tell me. I wasn't there. All I know is that he had a very guilty look when he told me.

Reid: We were together. Do you think he feels it's his fault I was taken?

Maggie: Maybe.

* * *

While waiting for news from Garcia, the team is trying to work with what they already have. Prentiss is at a map with different colored markers looking puzzled.

Rossi: How are you coming with that geographic profile?

Prentiss: Reid makes this look so easy.

Rossi: Yeah, well Reid is…Reid.

Prentiss: When he comes back, remind me to apologize for every time I've teased him about this.

Rossi merely smiles. Morgan's phone rings and he answers.

Morgan: Yeah baby, what you got for us?

Garcia: The only person who had access to every file was a Patrick Whelan.

Rossi: Can you tell us anything about this Whelan?

Garcia: Sugar, would I have even called if I hadn't already dug into every crevice of his life? He's 34 years old and a social worker. His mother sounds a lot like these women. No father is listed on his birth certificate and records show that Susan Whelan was never married. I dug up her tax records and she regularly worked at least two jobs. None of those jobs over the years had medical coverage. She died of cancer about four months ago.

Morgan: Sounds like you found our guy. Thanks Garcia.

Hotch: Bring him in.


	5. Chapter 5

Reid is walking down the stairs at Maggie's house. He is obviously freshly showered and has changed his clothes. He has not yet buttoned his shirt and the knife wounds from his ordeal with Stanley Karsten are still very clear. Maggie is sitting on the sofa, her back to him, reading a book. She has also had the chance to shower and get dressed having spent all of this time so far in her nightclothes. Maggie hears Reid come down the stairs but does not immediately turn to face him.

Maggie: Spencer, I made some tea for y-

At this point she turns and suddenly looks very sad.

Reid: Maggie, are you alright?

Maggie is directly in front of him now and has stopped his hand from buttoning his shirt. She traces the random cut marks on his chest with her fingers looking more and more pained as she goes.

Maggie: Do they still hurt?

Reid: No.

Reid touches her face. She has cleaned the blood off of her lip but her eye has fully blackened and swelled nearly shut. Reid leans and very tenderly kisses her eye. Maggie smiles at him as if finally seeing a light at the end of a very long tunnel.

Maggie: So what is going to happen to Karsten?

Reid: He went against council and pled guilty.

Maggie: Is he considered competent to do that? Will a judge let it stand?

Reid: His plea was on a condition that he would get psychiatric help but he'll never get out of prison.

Maggie: Fourteen kidnappings and twelve murders, I should hope not.

* * *

Looking into an interrogation room, a man sits calmly at the table. His hands are serenely folded in front of him and his overall demeanor is of peace and contentment. On the other side of the glass, Hotch looks at J.J. and Morgan.

Hotch: We're ready then?

The other two agents nod and Hotch enters the interrogation room.

Hotch: Mr. Whelan, I'm Special Agent Aaron Hotchner, thank you for agreeing to come in and talk to us.

Whelan: Sure, I'm not really sure why I'm here though.

Hotch: We've been called in to investigate a series of murders. Part of what we do is about profiling the victims. It's called victimology. In looking at our victims, we found a connection. It seems that you, at one time or another had occasion to handle the cases of each of these women at the DHS. We're just hoping that as the only person we can find who has actually had contact with every one of the women that you could tell us more about them.

Whelan: Agent Hotchner, I work a lot of cases. Maybe you could help remind me who these women are.

At this, J.J. walks in with a cup of coffee for Hotch who if rifling through the papers on the table.

Hotch: Miss Jareau, where exactly are the case files of the murdered women? And why in the Hell did it take so long to bring a damned cup of coffee?

J.J. looks fidgety and as if she is afraid to make eye contact with Hotch.

J.J.: I'm so sorry Agent Hotchner. I-

Hotch: You were on the phone with that brat of yours again weren't you?

J.J. looks around as if searching for an escape.

Hotch: This is the FBI Miss Jareau. There are women dying here and you have nothing better to do than play mommy?

J.J.: I'm sorry. I'll go get those files.

Hotch: Never mind, I'll do it myself. You just go get me another cup of coffee. This is cold.

Hotch throws the coffee against the wall and J.J. flinches.

J.J.: Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.

Both agents leave the room. Whalen is left alone while all of the agents stand outside and watch his reactions. His composure is gone. During the exchange between Hotch and J.J., Whelan bit his lip hard enough to bleed. Now he paces wildly, running his fingers repeatedly through his hair.

Morgan: I think you two got to him.

Hotch: J.J. have you ever done any acting?

J.J. just smiles coyly.

Morgan takes the files.

Morgan: My turn.

Morgan enters the room carrying the files and two cups of coffee. He sets one cup on the table and motions for Whelan to sit down.

Morgan: I'm Agent Derek Morgan. I'm really sorry about that scene, Mr. Whelan. Agent Hotchner has a bad temper. He once beat up a member of our team for failing his firearms qualification. We're profilers. We aren't even required to carry guns. Of course Agent Hotchner carries two if that tells you anything.

Whelan sits down but looks on edge still.

Whelan: I'm plenty familiar with guys like him, Agent Morgan.

Morgan: Tell me about that.

Whelan: I spend all day, everyday cleaning up the messes guys like him leave. The women and children they just walk away from. It disgusts me.

Morgan: These are the women we're been talking about. Can you remember anything about them?

Whelan: Is that Miss Jareau going to be okay?

Morgan: Actually it's Agent Jareau. Agent Hotchner resents her. Another of our agents is talking to her right now. I'm certain she'll be alright. I feel for her though. I watched my mom raise three kids all alone. I don't think she had a full night's sleep until I was in college. Sp, do you remember these women?

Whelan: I think maybe I do. What happened to them?

Morgan: They were found dead in parks.

Whelan: Do you have any idea who did it?

Morgan: Someone with a lot of compassion. Someone who saw their suffering and wanted it to stop it. Whoever did this wanted to give these women back their dignity and femininity.

Whelan: You get all of that from these pictures?

Morgan: You don't?

Whelan: These women look so unburdened and peaceful that I almost didn't recognize them.

Morgan: You remember them then?

Whelan: This one here was named Amber. She was barely thirty and looked close to forty. The life she had to lead is what should be a crime.

Morgan: Hey man, you're preaching to the choir. It must make you so angry everyday. Just going to work and knowing that all you can do for these ladies is the equivalent of putting a band aid on a severed limb.

Whelan: Sure does. And there's just no way out for them.

Morgan: No way except for the way you gave them.

Whelan: There wasn't any other way. You'd put a dog to sleep that was suffering but a human being doesn't deserve that compassion? Mothers bring life from their bodies. For that alone they should be revered and yet these women were reviled.

Morgan: Patrick Whelan, you are under arrest for the murders Amber Gleeson, Donna Santos, Holly Tucker and Brooke Melvin.

Whelan cuts Morgan off.

Whelan: But you understand!

Morgan: I understand that you orphaned nine children. I understand that everything these women endured was to make life better for their children. I understand that they loved their children more than their own lives, just like your mother and my mother.

Morgan turns to a uniformed officer.

Morgan: Get him out of here and don't forget to read him his rights.


	6. Chapter 6

Last chapter. Perhaps everyone was waiting to see how this turned out before reviewing? Maybe? Anyway, coming soon will be part three in the Reid's abduction by (yet another) psycho trilogy. It will be the installment where our dear Sperncer returns to work and we find out if he is really okay or if perhaps there has been some permanent change to Spencer's psychological make up. Stay tuned my furry friends!

* * *

At Maggie's house, the two are sitting on the couch drinking their tea.

Maggie: How do you feel about Karsten's sentence?

Reid: Conflicted. I know his actions were wrong but he was sick. Believe me; I know how mental illness makes people do things that aren't right. Within his reality his actions were perfectly fine.

Maggie: Are you angry at him?

Reid: Yes and no. Mostly no. In his mind he wasn't raping me or any of the others. He was making love to his boyfriend. The things I am dealing with make me angry and frustrated. The fact that you got hurt makes me angry. But I think I am done being angry with him.

Maggie: You're a better man than most, Dr. Reid.

* * *

On the jet, Hotch slides into the seat across from J.J. and puts a cup of tea in front of her.

Hotch: Have you spoken to Will?

J.J.: And to Henry. He's asleep now. How's Jack doing?

Hotch: He has good days and bad days. I know he doesn't completely understand everything that's happened. I just don't know if I'm doing enough for him. If I can do enough for him while doing this job.

J.J.: When I spoke with Amber Gleeson's sister, she said something that put a lot in perspective for me. Here I was wondering how this barely twenty year-old was going to handle two little kids and school and work and money and a life. She said that no one could love those kids more than she does and that was all that really mattered. I thought Henry may be upset when I'm not there but he knows I love him and he's with his dad who loves him. As long as Jack can never doubt that his daddy loves him, you're doing just fine.

Hotch: Maybe I should have gone out and interviewed the families.

J.J.: Maybe.

As the jet flies:

Voices of J.J. and Reid: The poet e.e. cummings once wrote, "Love is the whole and more than all."

* * *

Maggie and Reid are laying on the couch reading. Maggie has her head resting on Reid's chest. After a moment she looks up with a worried frown.

Maggie: What's wrong?

Reid: Why do you think there's something wrong?

Maggie: Because you haven't turned a page in over a minute. I know how you devour books.

Reid sighs and puts down his book.

Reid: I just don't know how to face them after this. They were all there to see me naked on that bed. Bleeding and crying. They know what happened. I just don't see how I can face any of them again.

Maggie: Once you are at peace within yourself, you will be fine with your family again. They just want you to be okay. And in time you will be. That's a promise. I told you that this will always have an effect on you but you do get to be okay again. It will happen faster with the help of the people who love you.

Reid: Wait…you used the term family…when talking about the team, you said family.

Maggie: Isn't that what they are?

Reid doesn't respond. He merely hugs Maggie closer and smiles as he plants a kiss on the top of her head.


End file.
